Let someone else take the wheel
by LadyRiverwolf
Summary: Wasn't sure about the second category. Set after MoA. Leo blames himself for the war and the fate of Percy and Annabeth, and Piper hates this. She wouldn't let him work himself to death over the building of the Argo II, and she's not gonna let him kill himself trying to keep it on course, either. Friends have duties, you know. Not meant romantically, but open to interpret. Oneshot.


Piper couldn't sleep. She wandered out onto the deck of the Argo II, and the night wind swept across the Mare Nostrum and ruffled her hair. The whole effect was dreamlike and surreal, as if she'd stepped into a story book, or one of Grandpa Tom's old tales. She breathed in the almost intoxicating scent of the salt air, mingled with engine oil and bronze; the juxtaposition of positive memories – surfing with her Dad, Grandpa Tom's hut in Oklahoma and, more recently, lending a hand to Leo and the others in bunker nine during the building of the ship – filled her with a sudden wave of nostalgia. She stared at the sky; there were so many stars. It made her head spin. _Magic hedgehogs_, she thought with a smile. The deck was illuminated by glowing bronze, so everything was bathed with golden light. It didn't really help with the whole reality-check thing.

Then she caught sight of movement near the prow. Festus? No. Too small, too pale. _Leo_. All at once, her good mood abandoned her, and she cursed herself for being so thoughtless. How could she have forgotten about him? Of course, someone needed to keep them on course. Then again, that wasn't strictly true: there was an autopilot fuction, but he'd apparently lost faith in it. She leaned against the cabin wall and watched as he adjusted the occasional lever or picked up one of the wii controls, wondering how much of it was actually necessary, and how much was just to keep his hands busy. Not meaning to sneak up on him, but not exactly being noisy about it either, she made her way up the port side of the ship and leant against the railing. "Nice night, huh?" Leo yelped with surprise and nearly dropped his controller. He managed to regain his composure, and said, "Hey, Pipes. What are you doing up so late?" The words were his, but his voice was tired and listless – so un-Leo-like it almost scared her.

"Early, now," she corrected, "it's well past midnight. And I could ask you the same question."

"Someone's gotta keep us running straight, and since Annabeth…" He trailed off. But it wasn't just Percy and Annabeth's disappearance; he'd been working himself too hard since they'd first spread the blueprints for a prophecised warship. "Leo, you've got to sleep. You can't keep going forever, you know."

"I'm good," he said, in a so-not-good fashion.

"Tell you what," she said brightly; he raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Allow me to impress you with my technological prowess." She leapt over to Festus and patted his scaly neck, making the dragon whirr like a cat purring. "'scuse me, old friend," she muttered, then said, "_This_ is an automaton. It can keep going indefinitely – at least, within reason – while _this_," she skipped back over to Leo and shoved his arm playfully, "is a person. Unlike the automaton, it cannot keep going indefinately, and will eventually suffer technical faults such as exhaustion and, eventually, keeling over. Which, incidentally, could be considered counter-productive to the quest in question. _Hypothetically_, of course." He smiled a little, which was heartening. "Very impressive," he relented, then his eyes darkened again. He looked so _guilt-stricken_. But he hadn't done anything wrong.

Her true memories of the Wilderness School were hazy at best, but she remembered being friends with Leo. More to the point, she remembered the horror stories he'd told her about his experiences in foster homes from the pleasant to the – as far as she could tell – bordering on abusive. She knew he'd been practically thrown to the wolves of the welfare system after his mom died and his aunt – what was her name? Rosa; that was it, Rosa – had disowned him. The way he'd talked about it so carelessly just scared her more. She couldn't get her head round it. Looking at him now – fifteen years old, exhausted, captaining a ship headed towards a war that, likely as not, they wouldn't all survive – she could still imagine him as an eight-year-old kid; orphaned, abandoned and alone. "Look, mister," she said, arms folded. "Two options. Option one: leave willingly. Behave. Show some brain capacity. Option two: be charmspoken hard enough to knock you out for the month it takes us to reach the Doors of Death. I know you're pretty good at resisting my charmspeak, but not that good. I'll win in the end."

"Ever thought about going into the evil villainess business, Beauty Queen?"

"Don't change the subject."

"Okay, answer me this: who's gonna keep us on course while I'm sleeping on the job?"

"I will." He gave her a _what-the..?_ look. "I helped to build this thing. All those hours in Bunker Nine paid off; I can keep us in a straight line."

"Prove it." They went over the controls, and she was pretty pleased with herself.

"See? Glamourous assistant extraordinaire at y'service." He didn't smile.

"If anything happens-"

"You'll be the first to know."

"Well, goodnight then."

"'Night." She stared at the sky for a second, then realised something. She adjusted a couple of the controls; temporary autopilot mode. She muttered to Festus, "Back soon. He's your friend too, right?" Then caught up with Leo and grabbed his arm. He turned, "Now what?" Taking him by surprise, she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her chin on his shoulder. He tried to pull away for a second, then gave up and hugged her back. He started to protest, but she cut him off. "No, Valdez, you idiot. Just shut up and listen to me, okay?" It was easier when she couldn't see his face. "You think it's your fault. I'm your friend. I can tell. Your Mom, the Greek/Roman war, Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus. But it's not. Not ever. There's only one responsible for all of this: Gaea. And we're gonna stop her. All of us. But, in order for this to work, we've got to work together." She pulled away and held him at arm's length. "And that means knowing when to step back and let someone else take the wheel. You know, hypothetically." She let him go. "Now go. Sleep. Now." A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth.

"Yes, Ma'am. How old am I, five?"

"Mentally? I'm beginning to wonder…"

"Hey!" She laughed.

"'Night, Leo."

"Buenas Noches, Belleza."

_Buenas Noches – goodnight._

_Belleza (pronounced bell-eh-tha) – beautiful, a beauty._

_{I don't speak Spanish – feel free to correct me}_

_Not my best work – I wasn't sure how to end it – but I figured I'd post it anyway. I've done similar stuff to this that people have liked, so, yeah. My first MoA fanfic – yayy!_

_Quite angsty for me. _

_Hmmm… good thing? You choose._

_They might be a little OOC – characters I really take to (like these guys) tend to evolve in my mind… It's hard to keep track whether I'm in-character or not. Oh, well. I tried._

_I loved these two in MoA._

"_You're like the annoying little brother I never had. Of course I'll stick up for you."_

"_After the Iris-message, the demigods paced the deck in silence, staring at the water and hoping for a miracle. When it finally came—three giant pink bubbles bursting at the surface off the starboard bow and ejecting Frank, Hazel, and Leo—Piper went a little crazy. She cried out with relief and dove straight into the water.__What was she thinking? She didn't take a rope or a life vest or anything. But at the moment, she was just so happy that she paddled over to Leo and kissed him on the cheek, which kind of surprised him. __'Miss me?' Leo laughed."_

_I've always erred over shipping them (I've always gone for the brother/sister option, but recently people had almost converted me – in an alternate universe, perhaps) but I think Rick Riordan got it just right – sibling-ish. Him being their creator and all. I didn't write this as a romantic Liper fic, but I suppose you could see it that way._

_Reviews are awesome. __ Constructive criticism is beyond awesome. :D_

_Thanks for reading!_


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